


Invaded

by caileighlutzke



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Orphan Lance (Voltron), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 00:08:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17518454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caileighlutzke/pseuds/caileighlutzke
Summary: Five hours after communications between Takashi Shriogane, Samuel Holt, Matthew Holt and Earth went dark the world was in chaos. Fighter jets more advanced than anything Earth had ever seen watched as cities that had stood for decades crumbled underneath the alien force.They hadn’t gone into hell completely blind though, a last-minute communication attempt from Matthew Holt had warned the Garrison of what to expect, giving the officials enough time to evacuate anyone deemed important enough into the enormous bunkers built for specifically this purpose.All anyone in the bunker could do was watch with bated breath as more and more of civilisation fell to the large purple soldiers through their screens.





	Invaded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garrison Trio meet up with Keith to rescue Shiro, their instincts lead them to a cave in the middle of a desert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some mentions of wounds, not too graphic. Mild swearing, as well as mentions of death.

 

* * *

 PROLOGUE

* * *

 

Five hours after communications between Takashi Shriogane, Samuel Holt, Matthew Holt and Earth went dark the world was in chaos. Fighter jets more advanced than anything Earth had ever seen watched as cities that had stood for decades crumbled underneath the alien force.

They hadn’t gone into hell completely blind though, a last-minute communication attempt from Matthew Holt had warned the Garrison of what to expect, giving the officials enough time to evacuate anyone deemed important enough into the enormous bunkers built for specifically this purpose.

All anyone in the bunker could do was watch with bated breath as more and more of civilisation fell to the large purple soldiers through their screens.

 

* * *

 LANCE

* * *

 

Lance's mission was going fine until a loud screeching from his earpiece, as well as yelling from Pidge and Hunk, made him lose concentration.

"Pidge," He whispered, ducking behind a car. "What the hell is happening?"

"There's - ugh - There's been a security breach! They aren't letting us give you backup anymore!" A stab of ice-cold fear shot through him. "No! Let go of me you bastard! He'll be in the dark!" He could hear Hunk yelling in the background, as well as other, older voices commanding them to leave the communications room and meet in the assembly room.

He was yelling before he noticed it, desperately pleading for them to just let him have some form of communications with the Garrison. His only response was more yelling from his friends, a burst of static, and then silence.

"Pidge!?" He got no response. "Shit."

There was no way he could just sit here and wait for communications to come back on, all that yelling from his side of things was bound to attract attention and who knew how serious that breach was. He would have to move, fast.

The Garrison had set up many bunkers for scenarios like this and the nearest one was, he paused to think, ten minutes from his current location. It had supplies and a secret tunnel system that would get him back to the base without having to go above the surface. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use any of the supplies but either way, he had to find somewhere safe to stay while the Garrison went through their Dark Procedure, it was just too much of a risk to continue this mission - he'd gathered all the data Pidge needed anyway.

One last check of the coms proved that, yes, they were seriously turned off, so he checked the rest of his tech. His blaster was fine, his tablet hadn't been damaged either so he made sure his earpiece was turned on on his end before shouldering his gun and beginning the ten-minute jog to bunker #01567.

\---

Despite being especially cautious, Lance knew that he was bound to run into sentries soon enough. He didn't expect to literally run headfirst into a pair of them after rounding the last corner before the bunker.

"Shit!" He powered up his rifle, jumping backwards and firing a shot at the one on the right. It fell to the ground, twitching from the headshot that must have destroyed the robot's internal workings. He lined up a shot for the second one that was still in the same position as when he had ran into it, but before he could take the shot, his gun exploded, shards of metal lacerating his palms and fingers.

Quickly glancing around he noticed a drone to his left, partially concealed by the skeleton of a long dead tree. The only weapon that he'd had on him was his gun, without it, he'd have no chance. Eyeing the fallen robot and the gun it carried Lance made of the stupidest decisions he's ever made, dumber than the time he and Hunk had eaten all the ice cream in the kitchen to see if their vomit would be cold, dumber than the time he taunted Pidge because of her bed-head.

He ran towards the remaining sentry.

Just as he reached the gun it seemed to come out of its stupor, swinging a sword at him. Grabbing the blaster, he jumped as far as he could out of its reach. He let out a yell as he felt the tip dig into his face, carving a line on the right side of his face from above his eyebrow, over his eye, and almost to his jaw. Praying that the alien blaster would work he aimed and fired, unable to open his right eye. A purple laser shot from the gun and he could've cried then and there as it met its mark, causing the robot's companion to join it on the ground in a clatter of metal parts.

He heard the unmistakable sound of a shot being fired and froze as he felt a laser bury itself in his left thigh. Letting out a piercing scream he turned and desperately fired shots at the drone he'd forgotten about. The triangular robot exploded, much like his gun had, and he resisted the urge to lie down in the middle of the street. He had to get the bunker.

Using the blaster as a makeshift crutch he limped down the destroyed street, past the unmoving sentries, to a shop that looked just as destroyed as the others. He painfully made his way behind the counter to the hidden hatch, closing it behind him as he slowly climbed down the ladder, his left leg sending intense pain through him whenever he applied even the slightest amount of pressure. 

The bunker was just like all the other secondary bunkers he'd been in - dark, dank and cold. A small sink with no mirror stood in the corner with the cabinet that held all the supplies, and despite what Lance had suggested multiple times to Iverson, no one had bothered to stock skin care products with the unperishable food and bandages. But at least it was what he needed to not bleed out.

Collapsing onto the bed Lance glanced down at his leg. It looked like the laser had cauterised a deep tunnel into his fleshy thigh - deep enough to see peaks of white bone through charred and blackened skin - and now that he wasn't so desperately on the run, he noticed the smell of burnt flesh that seemed to cling to him like the worst cologne you've ever smelt. There wasn't much he could do for his leg other than cover it and not put any weight on it. In the meantime, he focused on his facial cut, disinfecting it to the best of his abilities and covering it with gauze.

It wasn't until an hour after Lance had reached the solstice of the bunker that Pidge's crackly voice had come back through coms, apologising profusely, and he'd been able to request a pick-up. 

\---

Two months later, when the wound on Lance's face had healed into a scar and the bullet wound on his leg had healed enough to allow a range of physical movement - although he still had a limp and probably always would - medical cleared him for missions again.

Hunk and Pidge had accompanied him this time, patrols teams had to have at least three people to prevent what had happened to Lance the last time he went out. They had almost gotten back to the main bunker's entrance when the alarm had sounded, their tablets flashing red with the urgent request for backup in the middle of the desert, and then Iverson was in their ears, ordering them to make their way to the displayed coordinates.

They travelled as fast as they could, luckily it was less than a mile away, so it only took them five minutes to reach the temporary medical base. Lance couldn't help but cringe in discomfort as the injury on his leg started tugging at the even though his injury was tugging at his leg, making it a little painful to run as fast as the others.

He paused before entering the quarantine tent, was it safe for them to go in without the proper suits? He forged ahead though, when Hunk and Pidge paused as well, looking at him curiously. Shrugging off their concern, he pushed his way past the sliced open entrance and into the tunnel, blaster at hand.

Expecting the worst, he hardened his face and burst into the room, his face had to have shown his shock, however, when he found Keith supporting a very unconscious Shiro.

The Garrison had told everyone that Shiro was dead, and Keith presumed dead. One killed by the Galra and the other missing after a particularly bad mission. Lance had no clue what was really going on but as he watched Keith's hand slowly inch for the blade by his side even as he was holding onto Shiro, he knew that it was no mistake on the Garrison's behalf.

Turning to his friends, Lance sighed as he realised what they'd have to do. "Hunk, Pidge, go keep a lookout. Make sure nothing comes close to the tent, it looks like we're ditching the Garrison."

 

* * *

 KEITH

* * *

 

Keith was not happy about his current predicament.

All he'd wanted to do was work out who was important enough for the Garrison to set up a medical containment centre in the middle of the desert, but what he had gotten instead was a one-sided reunion with Shiro and the addition of three people he barely remembered from his own time at the Garrison. They'd shown up out of nowhere, rushing into the centre much as he had, no doubt intending to respond to the alarm he'd set off.

When the tall, lanky one with a sharp scar on his face had seen who Keith was holding, and after he'd gotten over the surprise of seeing two people presumed dead standing in front of him the shock on his face had changed into a hard resolve as he told the others to keep a lookout while helping him support Shiro.

They then had to make a mad dash for safety after Galran soldiers had seen them, the lanky one - Lance, he had told him - once again taking control of the situation and shooting at their pursuers from the back of his hoverbike, not even pausing after Keith had shot over the edge of the cliff so steep that no foot soldier even had a chance of pursuing them.

Now, here they are. Standing awkwardly in the small living room while Shiro explained what had happened to him in the year while he'd been missing.

Hunk leaned forward, frowning in concentration. "If the Garrison knew for certain that you were alive then why didn't they let everyone know? It would have given us all something to hope for, we might have even been able to rescue you earlier!" Even while he was talking Lance was shaking his head.

"It would have given us something to dread, some things are worse than death and knowing that someone who is regarded as a hero all over the world was being held captive in an alien spaceship orbiting our solar system would have terrified people. At least this way it gave us something to be resentful over. Something to fight in the name of."

Shiro nodded sadly, "Lance is right, people need something to unite themselves with. Unfortunately, it was a lie."

The silence following that statement was almost heavy enough to suffocate him. Each of the others lost in their own thoughts until Lance looked up sharply, glancing between Shiro and Pidge.

Hesitantly, he stood up, "Pidge, you should tell Shiro and Keith what you've heard through the radio chatter." 

Her face lit up, obviously not having considered that before. Jumping up, she grabbed her notebook and flipped it open to a page covered in scribbles and seemingly random words. 

"For the last three months, I've been picking up Galra radio waves with Garrison tech that I've modified. At first, I didn't mention anything because it all seemed random, but about two months ago they started mentioning something called Voltron - which would have been the same time that Shiro started to hear about it!" She looked away sheepishly. "I still didn't say anything to Iverson because he's a dick, but I mentioned it to Lance and he said that he'd heard some of the sentries mention it for a couple of weeks, something about a weapon and being close to it I think." Lance nodded in confirmation.

"This probably means that they'd had no reason to talk about it before that point." Pidge continued. "It also means that whatever 'Voltron' is, it's nothing good for the fate of the world, especially if the purple shits get their hands on it!" She sits down with a steadfast determination, arms crossed, looking proud of herself.

I pause in consideration, glancing surreptitiously over to the board hidden behind the large piece of fabric on my wall. Sighing I also stand up, "Around two months ago I started to notice that something wasn't right, starting with how suspicious the circumstances surrounding Shiro were, then some stranger things." He walked over to the board, uncovering it as he talked. "I've been picking up this weird energy signal coming from around... here. I think that it might be whatever weapon the Galra have been talking about all this time - 'Voltron' - I know for certain that it's coming from a cave that has a bunch of foreign carvings on the wall but I can't work out the exact spot seeing as there's not really anywhere in the cave for it to be hidden."

It's silent for a moment as everyone absorbs that information.

"Does that - Does that mean that we have to go find a weapon that an alien race has invaded our planet specifically to find?" Hunk managed to whimper out.

"Of course not," Lance smiled as Hunk sighed in relief. "The Galra didn't invade to find the weapon, it's just a coincidence! But that means that we've got to fix it before it really is too late for our planet." Hunk whimpered again.

"Now! Let's go fuck shit up!"

\---

During Shiro's rescue and while everyone was in Keith's house discussing their options, Lance hadn't seemed to have a limp, but now that they had been walking for quite a while it was very obvious that he was favouring his right leg over his left. Keith hadn't thought he'd been injured during the brief race from the temporary medical tent to his hut in the middle of the desert, but maybe he had felt too bad to mention it?

Not wanting to distract him from the point position he had taken as the only one with a long-distance weapon, Keith leaned over to Hunk, "Is Lance okay? He didn't get injured earlier, did he? I've noticed that he's limping now."

He shook his head, "A couple of months ago Lance was out on a solo mission when there was a breach in Garrison security, they wouldn't let us continue using our coms because 'It might broadcast our position to the Galra!' As if Pidge would ever let that happen! Anyways, this was before he'd memorised the patrol routes, so he accidentally ran into a pair of sentries and one of those weird triangular drones about fifty metres from the bunker and got beat up pretty bad. A shot from the drone went half-way through his left thigh and it was in that same fight that he got the scar across his eye, he still hasn't fully recovered yet." Keith nodded in understanding.

"Did you ever find out why the alarms went off?"

"Yeah, turns out it was because someone left without the explicit permission of Iverson and the other commanders. It's such a dumb reason for shutting everything down though - we wasted an hour with that stupid 'dark' procedure while Lance was just out there by himself!" During Hunk's explanation Keith had slowed down until eventually, he was just standing there, staring numbly ahead. After a couple of seconds, Hunk seemed to notice that Keith was no longer behind him.

"Keith?!" Hunk spun around, jogging back over to him. His exclamation caught everyone's attention as they realised that two of their members had stopped walking. "Keith, are you okay? What's wrong?" He was peering at Keith's face now a concerned expression twisting his face.

All Keith could do was stand there, how could he have been so  _idiotic_? 

"Oh God. I'm so sorry. I didn't realise that there was a team out." He realised that to the other nothing he was muttering would be making sense, but in the back of his head, he saw Hunk gain a look of realisation, glancing between Lance and himself.

Lance's voice cut through the panicked haze of his mind, "Hunk, is he okay? What is he talking about?"

Almost involuntarily, Keith's head snapped to Lance so fast he almost gave himself a concussion. "Lance! I - I didn't realise that they would sound the alarm - of course, they would though - it's Iverson. And - And, oh God Lance it's all my fault! I should have checked before I left, but they didn't announce it. Why didn't they announce it? Oh, God!" He was fully aware that his sentences probably made no sense, with his stuttering and jumping back and forth but Lance still seemed to understand what he was trying to say.

He laughed, cutting Keith off mid-ramble, "What, Mullet, you actually think I'd be mad about this awesome scar? The babes love it, plus, Shiro and I match," He winked as Shiro chuckled. "It adds a rugged charm, nothing to be mad about!"

Blanching, Keith scrambled to disagree, "But your leg! How can you not -" Lance's tutting effectively cut him off.

"What did I say? It adds a rugged charm! Ladies love it - not as much as the men, admittedly, but they all love it nonetheless." All Keith could do was stare, open-mouthed as the Cuban boy strutted away, gun at the ready, while the rest of their rag-tag group following him.

"C'mon, Keith," Hunk laughed, nudging him in the shoulder. "Lance has done the same multiple times, he's not mad, I promise. Now, let's go find Voltron."

 

* * *

 LANCE

* * *

 

True to his words, Lance really wasn't mad at Keith. Mad at Iverson for shutting the bunker down for such a small reason, sure. But, mad at Keith? No.

He had just wanted answers. Lance could understand that better than most, he wasn't proud of what he'd done when he found out that his family home had been destroyed along with most of his relatives, not at all. But he understood why he'd done it. Grief really messes with people’s brains, it's part of the reason why he maintains such a strict beauty regime - it's one of the only things that keep him sane. Maybe he could introduce some of the techniques to Shiro, it might help with the obvious turmoil that he's in.

It was very obvious to Lance that jumping straight from being tortured in a Galran warship, to searching for a war weapon had not been beneficial for Shiro’s health. He could tell even now, through his crossed arms, tense shoulders, and almost perpetual frown as he followed behind Lance that there was a lot going on in his mind.

Now was not the time for those thoughts though. Lance knew that at any second, the Galra would send a patrol out to desert and he had no doubt that their alien ships would easily pick up on their heat signatures, in fact, he was surprised that Keith had lasted as long as he had - the dodgy shack must have been in the Galra’s one blind spot.

“Let’s pick up the pace, guys!” He called to the group behind him. “There’ll be a patrol coming this way any minute now.”

Making sure to keep his eyes moving and blaster at the ready, he increased both the length of his strides and his speed of walking.

Shiro easily kept up, essentially matching his stride for stride, keeping watch with him in a way that gave Lance a sense of security more comforting than any weapon ever would.

Lance smiled and gave him a nod when they made eye contact, seemingly prompting the older man into starting a conversation.

“How do you know that patrol time?” Lance sighed, trying to determine how best to explain his thought process.

“After I got this scar,” He said, pointing at his face.” I had a two-month minimum break from active missions. After one month I managed to convince them to let me provide cover from a distance as long as I had another sniper with me. I already knew that the sentries they use are all robots, I’ve incapacitated enough of them, but what I didn’t quite realise at the time was that of course, they would follow patterns – just like our robots. They’re random enough that if you didn’t have a lot of time on your hands you wouldn’t’ve noticed it.

The sentries travel in pairs, never walking in the same direction for more than a block if they’re in the city, or more than 200 metres if they’re in the desert. Their main goal is to travel through their ‘section’ north, and then turn around and travel south to reach their starting point. The drones cover any spots where the sentries aren’t, although occasionally they’ll meet and shit like this happens,” He gestures to his leg.

“I spent four days out here trying to get a grip of the desert stuff, it’s essentially the same except only twice a day – midnight, and midday – and there normally aren’t any drones either.” Glancing over at Shiro, he notices he looks a little shell shocked and laughs.

“Don’t worry, dude, I had a month to get that all through my head. I wouldn’t stress about it!” That seems to snap him out of it, raising an eyebrow as he seemed to realise just how much work Lance had put into avoiding making the same mistake twice.

Grateful for the distraction, no matter how small, Lance focused all of his attention back to scanning the horizon behind and in front of them as Shiro stayed silent beside him, falling slightly behind as he stewed in his thoughts.

\---

Lance could see Keith smirking lightly as the newcomers to the cave gasped lightly at the sight of hundreds of carvings all over the walls of the thin cave, all of them depicting some sort of scene, most involving lions.

Despite his amazement, he couldn’t help but remain anxious as his brain acknowledged the presence of a very tight timer counting down to their potential demise. He also knew that there was no rushing Pidge – or Keith, for that matter, and he’s only met the man an hour ago – and he had no doubt that both of them would refuse to leave until inspecting the carvings thoroughly.

He made sure to stick tight to the group as they made their way deeper into the cave until he noticed a particularly enthralling depiction of a lion looking out over a choppy ocean.

“Woah,” He breathed out, as he brushed against the indented drawing with just the very tips of his fingers.

The drawings around them lit up, bathing them in a soft blue glow as they stared in awe. He barely heard Keith mutter bitterly about them never doing that before as a very subtle, very foreign presence made itself known in the back of his head, purring softly, giving him a warning of what was to come.

His eyes widened, barely having enough time to yell out a warning before the ground opened up, leaving the five young adults screaming as the darkness swallowed them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The team find Blue and realise that maybe Voltron isn't quite what they originally thought.


End file.
